We examined the impact of Newark's Operation Ceasefire on gunshot wound admissions (GSW) to the Level 1 Trauma Center at University Hospital for a three-year period. Interrupted time series analyses revealed that there were no statistically significant reductions in GSW rates in the Ceasefire Zone after the introduction of Ceasefire in Newark. Similarly, there were no statistically significant changes in GSW rates in the matched comparison zone or the Trauma Center's wider catchment area. A dual kernel density hot spot map confirmed these findings by identifying changes in hot spots that were non-systematic, with no consistent pattern of change over time. Future research should focus on conducting both process and outcome evaluations of the various adaptations of the Ceasefire model in order to help inform policy makers' decisions regarding the selection of violence reduction programs.

Research has consistently demonstrated that people diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) are at increased risk for violent ideation and behavior (VIB) and that this is especially the case for SMI patients with comorbid substance use disorders (SUD). Despite this, what is still largely unknown is the relative prevalence of VIB across diagnostic categories, whether the rates of VIB in SMI groups exceed the rates observed in people with SUD only, and which demographic factors increase the likelihood of VIB under different circumstances for people with SMI. To address these questions, we analyzed the intake records of 63,572 patients diagnosed with SMIs (i.e., schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar depression), substance use disorders, and non-SMI psychiatric disorders. Raw prevalence rates for a combined metric of VIB were established and compared for each group, and a series of logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate how various demographic factors influenced the likelihood of VIB endorsement in each study group. Our results revealed that (a) patients with SMI conditions had higher rates of VIB than both patients with non-SMI psychopathology and those with substance use disorders only; (b) patients with SMI and comorbid substance use pathology were responsible for the majority of VIB within each SMI condition; and (c) men with SMI conditions had higher prevalence rates of VIB than females. In addition, we found that for every SMI diagnosis, comorbid substance use disorders and younger age were related to greater risk for VIB, and where race and gender were found to significantly alter the likelihood of VIB endorsement, African American status and female gender were independently related to greater risk. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Assessing clients' satisfaction with family therapy interventions has important practical and theoretical implications. This article presents findings on client satisfaction after participating in functional family therapy (FFT), which addresses youths at risk of delinquency behaviour and communication problems in the family. Qualitative interviews and quantitative research methods are employed to compare programme perceptions with standardized therapeutic outcomes. The data include a parent or guardian interview, a youth interview, a services tracking form and the initial and discharge strengths and needs assessment (SNA). We observed high levels of satisfaction with FFT, yet satisfaction with family therapy and therapists was higher among parents. Parents uniformly indicated satisfaction on six Likert scale items while the youths were satisfied only on one. We found five significant differences between the parents' and youths' responses. The parents reported greater trust in therapists, more engagement in family therapy and more positive perception of changes in family dynamics following the intervention. The two scales, satisfaction with the programme and satisfaction with the therapists, were correlated only for parents. However, both scales were correlated with some items on our outcome variable: the changes in the SNA, for parents and young people. We assessed predictors of satisfaction and found that satisfaction with therapy was inversely related to the number of sessions for youth. For parents, the only common predictor of both satisfaction with the therapist and satisfaction with the programme were the changes on the caregivers' strengths scale. The answers to the open-ended questions indicated that, although both parents and adolescents valued the improvements in communication patterns, the youth seemed to be especially attuned to changes in this area. Researchers should continue assessing satisfaction with family therapy and study the relationship a Assistant Professor, John between satisfaction and the intervention's outcomes. Our findings suggest also the importance of including youth in assessing satisfaction.Practitioner points • Assessing feedback from both, parents and youth, during and after an intervention can assist in providing more effective treatment. • Youth might benefit from a shorter therapy and those who are mandated should be given more voice in an intervention. • The strengths and needs assessment is a clinical tool that is useful in evaluating the intervention's outcomes. • Functional family therapy improves communication skills among family members.

Background: Ten Vietnamese boat people with septicaemic shock or pneumoperitoneum were admitted between April and July 1993. Methods:In order to investigate the cause of unexplained septicaemic shock and spontaneous pneumoperitoneum in Vietnamese boat people, an audit was carried out. Attention was paid to the mode of presentation, abnormal physical signs, presence of injection marks, radiological signs, subsequent progress and outcome. Results: The clinical and radiological findings were all in favour of self-inflicted conditions. A retrospective review from the hospital record revealed that the emergency admission rate and disappearance rate of the Vietnamese boat people was higher than those of other patients (P C 0.001). Conclusion: It is concluded that self-inflicted conditions are a serious problem among the Vietnamese boat people, who may use hospital admission to avoid the detention centre.